Oceania Cycling Championships – Day 2 Wrap

Olympic road racer Joanne Kiesanowski went full circle in her move back to the track glory with a gold medal on the second night of finals at the WHK Oceania Cycling Championships in Invercargill tonight.
The 30-year-old from Christchurch took out the elite women’s 10,000m scratch race with a telling sprint at the ILT Velodrome.

It proved a great return for Southland’s own Eddie Dawkins who took out the men’s Kilo Time Trial with a superb performance, after missing out on qualification for the sprints earlier in the day.

The evening was completed with a brilliant victory for Rotorua’s Sam Bewley in the 30km Points Race, when he held out fellow Beijing Olympian Marc Ryan decided in the final sprint.

Kiesanowski last won on the track in the same event in 2000 before moving on to the road fulltime where she has enjoyed a decade of international success including a top-20 in the Olympics, sixth at the Commonwealth Games and a world ranking in the top 30.

She has decided to return to the track and hopes to win a place in the team to next year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and is excited about the change after 10 years on the professional road circuits of Europe and the United States.

“I’m loving being back. It’s a lot of fun and I am really focussing on the track at the moment. I’m not turning my back on the road and will be back with Team TIBCO in the US again next year.

“I felt that I had never given the track a real go because I was always concentrating on road and tried to do both but the track was really on the side. Now I am changing focus and see what I can do. My big goal is the Commonwealth Games on the track.

“This is really fun. It makes it better when I am winning like tonight. I had to work pretty hard tonight and do a fair bit of the work because I was unsure of the ability of the others so I took it on myself to bridge the gaps.”

Kiesanowski is aiming to add the Points Race title tomorrow night and is hoping to move up to some international World Cup races.

Dawkins, the national and track record holder, powered his way to an excellent 1:03.353 on a dead track, not aided by a bitterly cold and rainy day in the city.

He was nearly a second clear of Australia’s Joel Leonard, second in the Australian championships, with defending champion James Glasspool (Australia) third.

Bewley and brilliant young prospect Tom Scully (Invercargill)put the head down to lead a break that split the race open following a crash after 5km.

Bewley, Scully and Myron Simpson went within 40m of lapping the field before the remnants of the peloton fought back with strong work from Ryan, Jason Christie (Ashburton) and Peter Latham (Te Awamutu).

Ryan made the solo move with a brilliant move to gain a lap on the field with the final sprint remaining. He led out in an impressive display to win the final sprint but Bewley loomed on his should for second place to win by two points. Ryan was second and Scully third.

Earlier in the night there was an Australian trifecta in the elite women’s keirin won by Emily Rosemond from Stephanie Morton and Annette Edmondson. It was a similar story in the under-19 individual pursuit won by Jackson Law from fellow Australian Alexander Edmondson.

The championship continues with the time trial in Winton tomorrow morning, returning for a session on the track in the evening.

Full results: www.bikenz.org.nz

Oceania Cycling Championships – Day 2 Results Take 2
(Adds Men’s points race and U-19 men’s time trial)
Full results of finals on day two of the Oceania Cycling Championships at the ILT Velodrome in Invercargill tonight:
Female:
Elite Keirin, B final: Stephanie McKenzie (Auckland) 12,967, 1; Rosy McCall (G-Race, Auckland) 2, Madison Law (AUS) 3.
A Final: Emily Rosemond (AUS) 12.318, 1; Stephanie Morton (AUS) 2; Annette Edmondson (AUS) 3.
Elite Scratch Race, 10km: Joanne Kiesanowski (Christchurch) 1, Lauren Ellis (Tinwald) 2, Rosy McCall (G-Race, Auckland) 3, Penny Day (Christchurch) 4, Rushlee Buchanan (Te Awamutu) 5.
Male:
Elite sprint quarterfinals: Daniel Ellis (AUS) bt Simon Van Velthooven (Palmerston North) 11.113; Andrew Williams (G-Race, Auckland) bt Sean Fox (Southland) 11.543; Sam Webster bt Adam Stewart walkover; Matthew Archbold (Otago) bt Mitchell Bullen (AUS) 11.625. Repecharge: Mitchell Buller (AUS) 1, Sean Fox (Southland) 2.
Under-19 3000m individual pursuit, gold medal ride-off: Jackson Law (AUS) 3:25.881, 1; Alexander Edmondson (AUS) 3:26.958, 2.
Bronze ride-off: Pieter Bulling (Southland) 3:29.231, 3; Fraser Gough (Waipukurau) 3:31.908, 4.

Elite Kilo Time Trial: Eddie Dawkins (Southland) 1:03.353, 1; Joel Leonard (AUS) 1:04.112, 2; James Glasspool (AUS) 1:04.118, 3.
Under-19: Alex Frame (Christchurch) 1:09.586, 1; Regan Sheath (Auckland) 1:09.994, 2; Verco James (Auckland) 1:10.217, 3.

Elite Points Race, 30km: Sam Bewley (Rotorua) 40 points, 1; Marc Ryan (Timaru) 38, 2; Tom Scully (Invercargill) 29, 3; Aaron Gate (Auckland) 11, 4; Alex Carver (AUS) 11, 5.